A Liberty Township man convicted last month of child molesting has been
sentenced to the maximum term in the Indiana Department of Correction (DOC).

On Monday, Jackie W. Robson, 49, with a listed address on Canterbury Circle,
was sentenced to four years--the advisory sentence for a Class C felony,
punishable by a term of two to eight years--and then to four more years, for
a total of eight years in the DOC.

None of the term was suspended, although Robson is entitled to credit for
the 511 days he was held at the Porter County Jail while awaiting
disposition.

In his sentencing order, Porter Superior Court Judge Roger Bradford found
two aggravating circumstances: Robson’s criminal history and “the fact that
the offenses included sex acts with minors.”

Bradford found no mitigating circumstances.

In July a jury convicted Robson of Class C felony child molesting but found
him not guilty of a higher class A felony count. Two separate Class A felony
counts met with a hung jury.

According to the probable cause affidavit filed by Porter County Sheriff’s
Police Det. Gene Hopkins, on July 22, 2011, a Liberty Township mother
reported to police that her daughter told her of twice being touched
inappropriately by Robson: the first time at Robson’s residence when she was
visiting a friend; the second time at her own home, when Robson’s wife was
visiting her mother.

The girl advised Hopkins that the first incident occurred between Jan. 1,
2008, and Dec. 31, 2011, when he exposed himself to her and a friend and
touched her, saying “he wanted to do something to them . . . that would make
them feel good.” She advised that Robson told them not to tell their
mothers, the affidavit stated.

When the girl’s friend was interviewed, she denied the girl’s allegation and
said that she was “scared” when police asked her to give her account of the
incident, the affidavit said.

Robson was previously convicted, on Feb. 23, 2009, of vicarious sexual
gratification, sentenced to three years in the DOC with all but 90 days
suspended, and was released on May 14, 2009.